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Tagged: military

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Around the Nation
4:25 pm
Tue July 10, 2012

Homeless Rural Vets Find A Place To Call Home

Credit Lucy Nalpathanchil for NPR
American Legion Post Cmdr. Mark Czmyr and his father, Navy veteran William Czmyr, originated the idea to create permanent apartments for homeless vets in Jewett City, Conn.
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Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 6:34 pm

This month, more than a dozen homeless veterans will finally have a place to call their own, thanks to the American Legion.

The organization's post in a small Connecticut town has been working for a decade on a unique project to create not transitional but permanent supportive housing in their rural community.

For 55-year-old Army veteran Jeff MacDonald, the new facility in Jewett City, Conn., was like "winning the lottery."

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Those Who Serve
2:29 am
Wed July 4, 2012

Grandfathers' Stories Inspire Military Service

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Credit Amy Walters / NPR
Capt. Jared Larpenteur plans a combat mission at the 82nd Airborne's Delta Company command center in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, earlier this year.
Credit Raul R. Rubiera / Fayetteville Observer
Capt. Jared Larpenteur and his wife, Clare, attend a military ball in Fayetteville, N.C., last December.
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Originally published on Wed July 4, 2012 9:04 am

A very small percentage of Americans are now serving in the military — fewer than 1 percent. Some are looking for direction. Others are inspired by a sense of patriotism or by a family member who served in an earlier war. On this Independence Day, we continue with an occasional series, Those Who Serve, a look at the men and women wearing their country's uniform during a time of war.

Capt. Jared Larpenteur is from Cajun Country in Louisiana. His family never expected he'd make the military his career.

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Air Guard Deployment
11:35 am
Fri June 22, 2012

A Farewell For the 'Bayou Militia'

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BELLE CHASSE — The Louisiana National Guard says members of the group known as the "Bayou Militia" have bid farewell to families and friends during a deployment ceremony held at the Naval Air Station in Belle Chasse.

Thursday's ceremony was for about 250 members of the Louisiana Air National Guard's 159th Fighter Wing. The Guard gave few details about their mission, saying they are deploying in support of overseas operations in southwest Asia. 

Textron: Afghan Army
10:54 am
Thu June 14, 2012

Textron Gets 4th Vehicle Order from Afghan Army

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Textron Marine & Land Systems has gotten an order for 71 mobile strike force vehicles for the Afghanistan National Army. The company says the order has a cost cap of about $79 milllion and brings the total for Afghanistan to nearly 500 vehicles. 

U.S.
4:27 pm
Mon June 11, 2012

Program Teaches Vets How To Survive The Classroom

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Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Jay Blake (left), who served in the Marines, rides the elevator with his fellow students at Sierra Community College in Rocklin, Calif.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Jake Chavez, who served with the Marines in Iraq, mans the help desk at the Veterans Resource Center in Sierra College's library.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
The resource program at Sierra provides help not only in how to navigate college classes on campus but how to apply for VA benefits and get the proper support from the GI Bill, as well.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Catherine Morris, who runs the program, talks with one of her veteran students. Morris, who served as a Marine, created the program after seeing little support for vets on Sierra's campus.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Blake (right) recites the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of a meeting of the Marine Corps Veterans Association in Sacramento, Calif. Blake joined the group to keep in touch with both old and young Marine veterans in the area who support one another.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Michelle Johnson, an English professor at Sierra College, has been an avid supporter of the campus veterans programs. She started a "Boot to Books" class to give former members of the military the extra push they need as they transition to civilian life.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Blake (center) and Morris (right) talk with members of the Marine Corps Veterans Association in Sacramento.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Morris walks across the Sierra College campus on her way to a meeting.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Crystal Turner, a Marine veteran now attending classes at Sierra College, helps her 1 1/2-year-old daughter, Marley Rose, out of a car. Turner is balancing classes and working at the vets center on campus with being a full-time mother.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Marley Rose looks up at her mother while playing in the kitchen of their family home near Sacramento. Crystal Turner is mostly raising her two children on her own because her husband, who is also a Marine, lives two hours away near his base.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Turner holds Marley Rose while she comforts her 3-year-old son, Michael.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Marley Rose looks outside to the backyard for her mother.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Jay Blake (left), who served multiple tours in Iraq as a Marine, rides the elevator with his fellow students in the library at Sierra College in Rocklin, Calif. Blake, who has struggled since returning home, says he finally settled into his studies with the help of Catherine Morris, an academic adviser who works with the vets on campus.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Eric Theeler goes over some of his class assignments with veterans and student-athletes, who share a workspace in Sierra College's library.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Marine veteran Crystal Turner, a student at Sierra College, holds her daughter, Marley Rose, while she tries to coax her son, Michael, into finishing a walk in the park near their home in Sacramento.
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Originally published on Mon June 11, 2012 9:55 pm

Most American troops have left Iraq, and many have left Afghanistan. Now more than half a million of them have left the service — and they're going to college. Some vets say the transition is like landing on another planet, but they aren't the only ones struggling: The college staffs are, too.

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